Sunday, June 27, 2010

being "dad" can be hard. I guess parenting in general is a thankless job, but sometimes being dad is particularly so. I'm sure all the ladies out there will tell me all about being a mom, that's great, but all in all you get a lot more credit than we do. fathers day was an afterthought you know, one of those holidays they threw in to be "fair".

one thing I've noticed is the number of things everyone else in the family could do, but don't because it's easier to have me do it. things like setting the input on the tv. my wife is able to learn it, it's trivial, but she won't because I'm here. yet, time and time again we fathers are told how little we "help out". apparently I help out a lot. I am the savior of learning how to do trivial things yourself because you can't take 2 seconds to learn how to change the tv input from Wii to tv. all hail dad!

my life is consumed with the thankless job of keeping all things technical working, keeping the financial ship a float, and whatever other task gets dreamed ip on the spot. and the appreciation comes in the form of a tie or pair of socks.

yes I know being mom isn't easy, but that's not an excuse. in a world full of men who shirk their familial responsibilities, how about some appreciation for those of us that don't.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

So a bit about me... I'm married with 3 kids. 2 of my kids are my step kids, and the remaining child is biologically mine. I love my kids and my wife. I don't understand them most of the time, especially my wife, but I love them anyway.

My wife and I actually dated in high school and that didn't go so well. We lost track of each other for about 13 years and then our paths crossed again and we ended up married. To the romantically minded this might sound like a story of two soul mates who couldn't be kept apart. I, however, am not romantically minded. If fate brought us back together, fate has a very odd sense of humor. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying, I love my wife, I'm just not sure how us ending up married makes any sense in the whole big scheme of things. I tend to think that our being together is proof of chaos theory.

When we first started dating again I lived in Georgia and she live in Alabama. This lead to us traveling to each others place on weekends and so forth. I think the distance helped. I admit I was very leery of the whole thing since our dating in high school was such a disaster. Some people change, some people don't. When you reconnect with someone after a long time like that, its a crap shoot. Being in different states gave me the distance I needed to ease into the whole thing.

It's odd, looking back, at how everything worked out. A number of things surprise me as I look back. One, I'm shocked she ever came back to my apartment after the first visit. I was (am) a slob. My apartment wasn't someplace you wanted to spend a weekend. It was funny that she was afraid to poop there, she was actually afraid for me to smell her poop stink, like somehow I would be disappointed to find out that her shit does in fact stink. She would go to Mc Donalds down the road if she really had to go. Now days she has no problems with that, its actually quite the opposite. She wont' even close the door now and wants to carry on a conversation during her bowel movements, even when she's straining. Marriage changes you, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in not so good ways. I'm glad that she doesn't go to a store to poop anymore, but closing the door would be nice too.

So, I'm not sure how I got here, or where this might go, but I figured it was something to do while my wife's iPhone syncs up and what-not. Wise men say that it's not the destination that matters, but the journey. So, in that spirit, I thought it might be interesting to document the journey a bit.

I've been told time and time again that my life is a circus that people need to see. I guess it doesn't seem that bizarre to me because I'm so immersed in it on a daily basis. That, and the fact that I'm afraid if I pull back enough to really look at it, I might just scare myself silly. Errr... sillier... I'm already silly.

So that is the purpose of this little thing, to provide some entertainment to the masses as I live my life in what I think is a relatively normal fashion.

I do want to say one thing before I get started, I'm very blunt and sometimes talk like a pirate. I tend to say what I think without a whole lot of filtering. My emotions are often on display. I don't intend to offend, but I know that it happens from time to time. Honestly I don't worry about it that much, its a part of being honest with yourself and those around you, the fact is honesty offends a lot of people. So be forewarned, you might read things here that you don't agree with, like, or care for. You can complain to me about it if you like, but honestly it won't do any good, I just won't care. I don't have time to get all wrapped up in other people's hang ups. I'm not talking anything extreme here, I'm no racist or anything like that. I'm content with who I am, short comings and all, and you getting upset at me about me isn't really a priority in my life. And that includes family members at times. They often don't agree with the choices I make, and that's fine. But at the end of the day, its my life and I have to answer for the things I do, so I choose to do things my way. Take it or leave it, this is me.